Millions of people today suffer from back ailments due to injury, genetics or age. It is estimated that over 10 million people in the United States suffered debilitating back pain in 1988.
Back-pain sufferers can choose from a wide variety of products designed to alleviate the pain and discomfort associated with back pain. One category of such products relates to pillows for easing neck and back strain while a person is sleeping or resting on his back (the so-called supine position) or on his side. These pillow products come in various configurations and use a wide variety of padding and contouring materials, such as foam, polyester filaments, goose down, and the like, in order to provide relief to the user.
Many of these pillow products, which can be referred to as cervical and head support pillows, are designed to offer support of the cervical or neck area of the user, and also provide a comfortable area on which the user may rest his head.
There remains a need for a cervical and head support pillow which 1) offers varying amounts of cervical support for a user regardless of whether the user is in the supine position or whether the user is side-lying on the pillow; 2) maintains horizontal alignment of the spine and head when the user is side-lying; 3) maintains cervical concavity when the user is in the supine position; 4) allows for variation of the height of the pillow, depending upon individual anatomy and the comfort preference of the user; and 5) provides varying amounts of head support in both the side-lying and supine positions, depending upon the comfort requirements of the user.